"sound appeared on February 5, 2003. Subsequent dates for note changes include: As Slow as Possible Organ²/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible) is a musical piece by John Cage and the subject of one of the longest-lasting musical performances yet undertaken. It was originally written in 1987 for organ and is adapted from the earlier work ""ASLSP"" 1985; a typical performance of the piano version lasts 20 to 70 minutes. In 1985, Cage opted to omit the detail of exactly how slowly the piece should be played. The performance of the organ version at St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany began"
"movement ends in an unusual fashion: while there is no ambiguity as to the tonic (D), the final ""chord"" only contains an open fifth of D and A. Since there is no third, the ending is neither major nor minor: <score vorbis=""1""> \relative c' { </score> The Adagio opens quietly and has a contrapuntal flair, with the strings playing in four parts: <score vorbis=""1""> \relative c"" { </score> The second part of the movement shifts to 3/4 time and features a melody played by the violas and accompanied by the violins: <score vorbis=""1""> \relative c"" { </score> Depending on the"
"melody that Hector Berlioz called a ""lamentation"", mostly by the right hand, is played against an accompanying ostinato triplet rhythm, simultaneously played by the right hand. The movement is played ""pianissimo"" or ""very quietly"", and the loudest it gets is ""piano"" or ""quietly"". The adagio sostenuto has made a powerful impression on many listeners; for instance, Berlioz said of it that it ""is one of those poems that human language does not know how to qualify"". Beethoven's student Carl Czerny called it ""a nocturnal scene, in which a mournful ghostly voice sounds from the distance"". The movement was very popular"
"Capriccio (music) A capriccio or caprice (sometimes plural: ""caprices"", ""capri"" or, in Italian, ""capricci""), is a piece of music, usually fairly free in form and of a lively character. The typical capriccio is one that is fast, intense, and often virtuosic in nature. The term has been applied in disparate ways, covering works using many different procedures and forms, as well as a wide variety of vocal and instrumental forces. The earliest occurrence of the term was in 1561 by Jacquet de Berchem and applied to a set of madrigals. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, it could"
"Obbligato In Western classical music, obbligato (, also spelled obligato) usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance. Its opposite is the marking ""ad libitum"". It can also be used, more specifically, to indicate that a passage of music was to be played exactly as written, or only by the specified instrument, without changes or omissions. The word is borrowed from Italian (an adjective meaning ""fixed""; from Latin ""obligatus"" p.p. of ""obligare"", to oblige); the spelling ""obligato"" is not acceptable in British English, but it is often used as an alternative spelling in the US."
"broadened to Adagio. The ""Amen"" begins again simply in the bass and continuo. An intricate melody rises in four measures and one octave. Every other voice, tenor, alto, soprano, also sings the theme once. Rather unexpectedly, a solo violin plays the theme, first unsupported, then assisted by a continuo entrance of the theme, interrupted by a choral four-part setting with the theme in the bass. After two more instrumental measures, a four-part-setting develops to imitation and counterpoint of more and more independent voices, ending on a rest of a full measure. Finally, Amen is repeated two more times, Adagio. A"
"minor but moves away fairly quickly and is tonally unstable. It uses melodic material from the introduction as well as the main theme. In measures 115–122, the first four notes of the main theme are presented at half the speed, first at the original pitches, and then a major third higher. This material is then returned to the original rhythmic values and passed back and forth between the horn and oboe. The Adagio closes with a simplified version of the opening of the main theme, which reveals the close relationship between the introductory material and the main theme. The movement"
"rather than play the notes of a chord all at once, the pianist plays simple rhythmic figures in which the notes of the chord are played as a broken chord. An arpeggio is a group of notes which are played one after the other, added either going up or going down. Executing an arpeggio requires the player to play the sounds of a chord individually to differentiate the notes. The notes all belong to one chord. The chord may, for example, be a simple chord with the 1st, (major or minor) 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale in it"
"refer to madrigals, music intended alternatively for voices or instruments, or for strictly instrumental pieces, especially keyboard compositions . Listed by composer: Capriccio (music) A capriccio or caprice (sometimes plural: ""caprices"", ""capri"" or, in Italian, ""capricci""), is a piece of music, usually fairly free in form and of a lively character. The typical capriccio is one that is fast, intense, and often virtuosic in nature. The term has been applied in disparate ways, covering works using many different procedures and forms, as well as a wide variety of vocal and instrumental forces. The earliest occurrence of the term was in"
"an important part of the jazz improvisation vocabulary of horns and keyboards, guitars, and bass. In Western classical music, a chord that is played first with the lowest note and then with successive higher notes joining in is called ""arpeggiato"". Sometimes this effect is reversed, with the highest note coming first. In some modern popular music arpeggiato is called a rolled chord. In early video game music, arpeggios were often the only way to play a chord since sound hardware usually had a very limited number of oscillators, or voices. Instead of tying them all up to play one chord,"
"suggests this may be an error in the published score, and that the flute should play a B. After the flute's opening statement of the melody, the piano continues and modulates to F major. After a bridge section, two cellos return with the theme in D major and the oboe continues it. The ""A"" section ends with the piano holding a high F major chord, pianissimo. The movement's ""B"" section is in D minor (the relative minor of F major) and marked ""allegro vivace assai"" or ""prestissimo"", depending on the edition. It commences with a virtuosic piano introduction before the"
"the player decided how to fill in the harmonies unobtrusively) to a fully written part of equal importance to the main melody part. A later use has the contradictory meaning of ""optional"", indicating that a part was not obligatory. A difficult passage in a concerto might be furnished by the editor with an easier alternative called the ""obbligato""; or a work may have a part for one or more solo instruments, marked ""obbligato"" (but more commonly and correctly termed an ""ossia""), that is decorative rather than essential; the piece is complete and can be performed without the added part. The"
"most usually played with the bow, and composers give specific indications to play pizzicato where required. Pieces in classical music that are played entirely pizzicato include: Antonio Vivaldi, in the ""Ah Ch'Infelice Sempre"" section of his cantata ""Cessate, omai cessate"", combined both pizzicato and bowed instruments to create a unique sound. He also included pizzicato in the second movement of ""Winter"" from ""The Four Seasons"". In music notation, a composer will normally indicate the performer should use pizzicato with the abbreviation ""pizz."" A return to bowing is indicated by the Italian term ""arco"". A left hand pizzicato is usually indicated"
"of ornamental variations on a theme in E major. Its coda begins at m. 142. The first movement, of about ten minutes duration, is one of the best examples of Beethoven's management of musical tension. The short ""adagio"" introduction (24 bars long) is not tightly thematically integrated with the rest of the movement; it serves a similar function to the ""introduzione"" of the first movement of Op 59, No 3. The main motifs of the ""allegro"" are the lyrical melody appearing several bars from the beginning, and the pizzicato arpeggios played by two instruments accompanied by repeating quavers played by"
"Legato In music performance and notation, legato (; Italian for ""tied together""; French ""lié""; German ""gebunden"") indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, the player makes a transition from note to note with no intervening silence. Legato technique is required for slurred performance, but unlike slurring (as that term is interpreted for some instruments), legato does not forbid rearticulation. Standard notation indicates legato either with the word ""legato,"" or by a slur (a curved line) under notes that form one legato group. Legato, like staccato, is a kind of articulation. There is an intermediate"
"the tempo remains the same but the meter is changed to common time. Gradually the music becomes more agitated before breaking away into the following section, Allegro non troppo. A one-in-a-bar scherzo, it begins softly with strings before the flute enters, accompanied by chamber-like subdued textures from the orchestra. The soloist has dialogue with both the woodwinds and the timpani during this section, giving the impression of dry wit. This section too climaxes near its end, before ending softly and mysteriously, leading into the final Adagio. The strings introduce the Adagio, its mood contemplative and introspective (reminiscent of some of"
"have always been used in actual performance, even in Brahms' time. The concerto follows the standard concerto form, with three movements in the pattern quick–slow–quick: Originally, the work was planned in four movements like the second piano concerto. The middle movements, one of which was intended to be a scherzo—a mark that Brahms intended a symphonic concerto rather than a virtuoso showpiece—were discarded and replaced with what Brahms called a ""feeble Adagio."" Some of the discarded material was reworked for the second piano concerto. Brahms, who was impatient with the minutiae of slurs marking the bowing, rather than phrasing, as"
"by writing a small cross above the note, and a Bartók pizzicato is often indicated by a circle with a small vertical line through the top of it above the note in question or by writing ""Bartók pizz"" at the start of the relevant passage. In classical music, arco playing is the default assumption; as such, if a music notation part starts and no indication is given as to whether the notes are arco or pizz, the player assumes that the notes are bowed. If a string player has to play pizzicato for a long period of time, the performer"
"a more or less enigmatic inscription in Latin above the melody. These compositions are called the riddle fugues (or sometimes, more appropriately, the ""riddle canons""). The performer(s) is/are supposed to interpret the music as a multi-part piece (a piece with several intertwining melodies), while solving the ""riddle"". Some of these riddles have been explained to have more than one possible ""solution"", although nowadays most printed editions of the score give a single, more or less ""standard"" solution of the riddle, so that interpreters can just play, without having to worry about the Latin, or the riddle. One of these ""riddle"
"is initially marked ""larghetto"" and is in 4/4 meter. It transitions to ""più mosso"" (more movement) in measure 29. The piece returns to its original tempo in measure 84, and ends in an ""adagio"" beginning in measure 99. The piece is 101 measures long and written in ternary form with coda; the primary theme is introduced, followed by a secondary theme and a repetition of the first. The opening alternates between major and minor and uses arpeggios, commonly found in other nocturnes as well, in the left-hand. It sounds ""morbid and intentionally grating"". James Friskin noted that the piece requires"
"form. This is followed by a more agitated transitional passage in D minor accompanied by quiet parallel thirds, followed by a passage full of thirty-second notes in C major. This leads back to a more embellished form of the F major theme, which is followed by an F major variation of the C major section. This Adagio is the earliest composition by Beethoven now in general circulation; it was adapted from the slow movement of his Piano Quartet No. 3 in C major from 1785. The third movement, a minuet in F minor, is conventional in form. It contains two"
"key of C-sharp minor is not a natural one on the violin, and may be intended to recall Beethoven's Opus 131 String Quartet, Mahler's Fifth Symphony, or Prokofiev's Symphony No. 7, a work he liked very much. The first movement is in sonata form, referring to the composer's Fifth Symphony and concluding with a contrapuntal cadenza. The Adagio is in three parts, with a central accompanied cadenza. The final movement is a complex rondo. It has a slow introduction, three episodes between the refrains, and a further long cadenza before the third episode reprising material from earlier in the work."
"with a very simple melodic line for each hand under an unusual ""Quasi allegretto"" tempo marking, usually ignored in favour of something slightly more frenetic. It starts with a fast but delicate sixteen chromatic-note arpeggio divided in thirds and sixths under an irregular rhythmic subdivision and cadenza so as to underline the atmosphere implied in its title. The technical difficulties involved in playing the piece include rapid ""leggiero"" chromatic runs, often with irregular rhythmic groupings, and passages in sixths and thirds. An ""ossia"" for the right hand involving brilliant runs in minor thirds is almost universally preferred by performers. ""La"
"an Andante - a soulful theme expounded in arpeggiated chords. There follows an Allegro variation and another cadenza, leading to a new theme marked Allegretto given first by the piano and then joined boisterously by the orchestra. The Andante theme is recalled in the ensuing cadenza, and a new theme is presented in the following slow Andante (really an Adagio). A further reminiscence of the Andante leads to a variation on the Allegretto, with the piano playing in constant demisemiquaver octaves. Another short cadenza introduces a new theme in the horns, but it is short-lived, and the coda very soon"
"in contrary motion to another instrument (one voice moving up whilst the other moves down). The opening Adagio acts as an austere and brief introduction, moments of extreme tension contrasting with gently flowing counterpoint, with minor sevenths being particularly prominent. The opening goes headlong into the extended part of the work, a large scale Severo based on a variant of the quartet's opening theme. The intensity and severity is sustained for a considerable period of time until a hushed section emerges, building up to a harsh passage of sevenths piled on top of each other before subsiding to another buildup"
"between bars of ""5/4"" and ""7/8"". Directions to the player regarding matters such as tempo (e.g., Allegro, Andante, Largo, Vif, Lent, Modérément, Presto, etc.), dynamics (pianississimo, pianissimo, piano, mezzopiano, mezzoforte, forte, fortissimo, fortississimo, etc.) appear above or below the staff. Terms indicating the musical expression or ""feel"" to a song or piece are indicated at the beginning of the piece and at any points where the mood changes (e.g., ""Slow March"", ""Fast Swing"", ""Medium Blues"", ""Fougueux"", ""Feierlich"", ""Gelassen"", ""Piacevole"", ""Con slancio"", ""Majestic"", ""Hostile"" etc.) For vocal music, lyrics are written near the pitches of the melody. For short pauses (breaths),"
"and II), viola and basso continuo. The difference in texture and figuration of both solo instruments is clearest in the outer Allegro movements. In these movements, the melody lines of the cembalo II part are generally more lyrical and less agile than those of the cembalo I part. The Adagio middle movement, where the melody lines of both solo instruments imitate one another without distinction in texture and figuration, has been likened to the middle movement of Bach's double violin concerto, BWV 1043. Length: c. 14 minutes The theme with which the first Allegro movement opens is transformed in various"
"has four movements. The first movement is marked ""Allegro non troppo, ma con brio"", and is in . Its opening is dominated by a cello solo in G major. The middle section is in G minor, though it passes through numerous keys before returning to G major by the end. The second movement is marked ""Adagio"", and is in . It starts with a viola solo accompanied by cello pizzicato. Then a ghostly triplet motif is presented by the viola. Both of these thematic materials are played by different instruments and developed, with one section combining the triplet and pizzicato"
"highly formalized. According to the playwright and librettist Carlo Goldoni, in his autobiography, The three principal personages of the drama ought to sing five arias each; two in the first act, two in the second, and one in the third. The second actress and the second soprano can only have three, and the inferior characters must be satisfied with a single aria each, or two at the most. The author of the words must [...] take care that two pathetic [i.e. melancholy] arias do not succeed one another. He must distribute with the same precaution the bravura arias, the arias"
"point: Note that while there are really four movements in this piece, only three are marked in the score as separate movements, and these three do not correspond to the four ""real"" movements. The four ""real"" movements are Fantasia, Allegro scorrevole, Adagio, and Variations. But the movements are all played ""attacca"", with the pauses coming in the middle of the Allegro scorrevole and near the beginning of the Variations. Thus there are only two pauses, dividing the piece into three sections. The reason for this unusual division of movements is that the tempo and character change, which occurs between what"
"all contributing to the overall texture. While the ability to hold a steady tempo is a vital skill for a musical performer, tempo is changeable. Depending on the genre of a piece of music and the performers' interpretation, a piece may be played with slight tempo rubato or drastic accelerando. In ensembles, the tempo is often indicated by a conductor or by one of the instrumentalists, for instance the drummer. While tempo is described or indicated in many different ways, including with a range of words (e.g., ""Slowly"", ""Adagio"" and so on), it is typically measured in beats per minute"
"such it resembles a classical string quartet more than a piano concerto, which typically has three movements: The duration is given as 20 minutes. The work shows little premonition of the characteristics of Busoni's mature compositions, but rather pursues Mozart's models. The reviewer of the first recording notes that the first entry of the piano shows ""personalised nuance"" and that the ""Adagio has an unexpected seriousness but also a chaste intimacy and delicacy. The lyrical Scherzo is reminiscent of Schubert, and the rather ""conventional"" finale is a display of compositional skill, including fine interplay between the piano and the strings."
"Divertimento Divertimento (; from the Italian """" ""to amuse"") is a musical genre, with most of its examples from the 18th century. The mood of the """" is most often lighthearted (as a result of being played at social functions) and it is generally composed for a small ensemble. The term is used to describe a wide variety of secular (non-religious) instrumental works for soloist or chamber ensemble. It is usually a kind of music entertainment, although it could also be applied to a more serious genre. After 1780, the term generally designated works that were informal or light. As"